Vegetable oils are most desirable natural forms of lipids to be used for diet purpose. The role of lipids, i.e. fats, which are saturated or comprise trans unsaturated fatty acid glycerides in blood circulatory problems is well known. The use of vegetable oils which are comprised of cis-unsaturated fatty acid triglyceride in lieu of the aforesaid saturated fats or trans-unsaturated fatty acid triglycerides has been highly recommended to avoid the blood circulatory problems of the latter fats.
One of the difficulties in implementing this recommendation is the physical form of the desirable vegetable oils, i.e., liquid form which is not always adaptable for many food uses. In the past, vegetable oils have been converted to the more useful semi-solid to solid state by hydrogenation which results in conversion of the vegetable oils to saturated fat and trans-unsaturated fatty acid glycerides. Therefore, the use of the desirable vegetable oils has been seriously limited in the food industry to only those situations where the liquid oil can be employed.
The dietary importance of low-fat, low-calorie, no cholesterol foods is well-documented in not only the scientific literature but also in the lay press. Considerable research effort has been, and is now being, expended to meet the requirements of new food technology. Thus, low fat food products such as cheeses, mayonnaise, salad dressings, margarines and the like have been developed based on non-fat substitutions in whole or in part for the fat content of classical foods. Such products necessitate new food additives and constituents of the new dietary food compositions. These new additives and constituents are mainly designed to improve appearance, color, mouth-feel, and induce other properties to assure public acceptability of the new dietary compositions. To be successful, such additives and constituents should be food acceptable and compatible with the compositions in which they are employed. For example, titanium dioxide has been used as a whitener in low fat compositions and is found to be compatible in these compositions. However, the food acceptability of titanium dioxide has been challenged and is rejected in many countries, especially in Europe.